I’ve been on a mission this summer to organize and beautify my kitchen.  A friend helped me this weekend with one of the finishing touches.  We added brass handles to all the drawers and cabinets.  It was amazing what a small change made to the entire look of the room.  I chose brass to go with the brass pots and pans and the whole French country kitchen look I’m trying to acheive.  But you can find all types of knobs and handles online and at thrift stores and markets.  I found mine at a garage sale.  This weekend I saw a fabulous selection of handles at our local hardware store.  There’s a big price range - from .50 cents to $30 per handle, so look around.  But you don’t have to feel you’ll lose your investment because if you move, you can always take them with you.

We have a lot of open shelving in our kitchen that was becoming a chaotic mess. I wanted to have a sense of pleasure when looking at my kitchen, but I didn’t want to spend a lot of money rebuilding the whole thing. Here are some cheap and easy ideas to help beautify your kitchen clutter.

• spice rack - I found mine at an antique mall for $12, but they’re also relatively cheap brand new. Mine is pretty and practical; it hangs on the wall close to the stove where I use it. It has a drawer for extra, odd-shaped cooking ingredients (like boullion cubes, etc) and an extra shelf for taller condiments.
• cookie jars - Once again you can pick up a flee market bargain or buy new. These are great for anything you want to keep fresh or for any extras like plastic flatware and take-out condiments.
• canning jars - I picked up some of the old style at the antique mall, but you can still buy them new online. These are great for beans, rice, nuts, pasta, tea etc. or even silverware and cooking spoons.
• trays and bowls - You might even have extra decorative ones around. Putting things like vitamins, condiments, tea boxes, etc. on a tray or in a bowl suddenly makes it look organized.
• utility racks - with these you can hang almost anything from utensils to bowls and pots.